A behind-the-scenes guided tour of the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham by two (2) PhDs in History and Engineering.

The course also included a set of lectures titled “Failure Fridays” which investigated aircraft incidents and accidents by tracking the failure points and symptoms with a special emphasis on systems. These included:

Cessna 182 Fuel Contamination

Alaska 261

A320 Fly By Wire

Boeing 737 Rudder Actuator

TWA 800

Diesel Bug

Advisory Circulars (AC)

Patriot Missile

Ariane 5

The largest non-nuclear explosion known to man. (Not aerospace, but still an impressive and covertly intentional systems failure!)

This course was particularly interesting; as the instructor, I learned a great deal about many topics. I had to work hard to stay ahead of the students. The students gave one of the best ratings that I have ever received. One student said:

The course was very interesting and likely one of the most valuable classes I have had in college. Rather than sticking strictly to theory as most of the Aerospace curriculum does, this class covers details about the what, why, and how for a wide range of
systems that will be particularly useful in any aerospace career.

Another student said:

This course provided me with an otherwise unobtainable insight into the real world of engineering systems, something not talked
about in other courses. This class is great for the industry engineer.

Not every comment was so positive. One student mentioned that this course required several prerequisites and that “newly transferred” students would find the course “difficult”.

More information and the full course notes are available by contacting Charles O’Neill.